house of tyranny, fails to order. But the boldness, the craft, the subtilty of Richard, who Fall of the under more favorable conditions might have made a great York, it king, were powerless to avert the doom now fast descending establishes upon him. Not only had he shocked the moral sense of the and yet nation by a usurpation which had culminated in a ghastly guarantee deed of blood, but he was also weighted down by the shortcomings of a dynasty whose despotic policy had deprived the nation of its liberties without securing in return the one boon which every despotic power was expected to bestow, -administrative order. The weakness of the royal authority under the Lancastrian kings, their powerlessness to preserve order, their failure to maintain a steady enforcement of law, had exhausted the patience of the nation, and had paved the way for their overthrow. In the hope of escaping from this condition of things, the nation had submitted to a transfer of the crown to the house of York from that of Lancaster. And yet after years of waiting the expected change had not come; the "want of governance," which had worn out the patience of all classes under one dynasty, remained as a standing reproach to the other. The house of York had broken down all the barriers in favor of liberty which the nation had so patiently built up, and yet it had failed to curb the spirit of lawlessness which had been steadily gaining strength during a long period of foreign and domestic war. It may have been that the administrative machinery, which the monarchy had not yet been able to strengthen and consolidate, was itself inadequate to cope with the chronic disorders which naturally arose out of the decay of an expiring social system. However that may have been, the fact remained that the nation was worn out by an experiment which had robbed it of nearly every political right, and which had in return given it practically nothing. The spirit of discontent which grew out of this condition of things, the disposition to seek relief by still another change of dynasty, the conciliatory proceedings of Richard's parliament had failed either to allay or avert. His 1 "The house of Lancaster had reigned constitutionally, but had failed by lack of governance. The house of York succeeded, and, although they ruled with a stronger will, failed altogether to remedy the evils to which they succeeded, and contributed in no small degree to destroy all that was fair promises were no doubt estimated at their true value. As subsequent events proved, his legislation in the interest of reWhen inva- form was not seriously intended. When in December, 1484, threatened, it was known that Henry Tudor was preparing for a second turns to the invasion, Richard began to collect benevolences,1 in open vio sion is Richard re collection of benevo lences. Henry lands on 7th Aug., 1485. Battle of Bosworth, 22d Aug. lation of the statute, passed less than a year before, in which they were not only forbidden, but denounced as a new and unlawful invention. The utter faithlessness, the cruelty, the craft, the mistrust, which characterized the conduct of Richard, no less in public administration than in private intrigue, sufficiently explain why it was that his bad cause was wrecked at the critical moment by the desertion of the great military chiefs upon whose fidelity he relied. Henry, who had not yet reached his thirtieth year, landed at Milford Haven on the 7th of August, 1485, with a small force, which was increased through the influence of his Tudor connections among the Welsh, and then by constant adhesions as he advanced towards the centre of the kingdom. On the 22d of August he was met by Richard at Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire, where the decisive battle was fought. In the midst of the battle the Stanleys and Northumberland, upon whom the king mainly depended, deserted his standard and went over to the enemy. In his despair Richard, the last representative of a house that had produced more than one tyrant but not a single coward, threw himself into the thick of the fight, and perished while hewing his way to the presence of his opponent. Thus, by the fate of a single battle, lost through treason, the crown of England passed away from the last of the Plantagenets, from the last king of the great house of Anjou. 1 Cont. Croyl., p. 572. |